Use of laser probes, or optical fiber delivery systems, is continuing to increase due to expanded surgical capabilities made available by improved laser probes. Modern laser probes are used in increasingly complex surgical procedures as a result of technological advancements in designs of laser probes.
Originally, a laser probe consisted basically of an optical fiber enclosed within a rigid tube that enabled a surgeon to deliver laser energy to an exact location of body tissue within a patient's body in order to precisely cut, cauterize, and/or coagulate a very small area of the body tissue. Later generations of laser probes included irrigating and aspirating capabilities that enabled surgeons to cut, cauterize, and also clean specific areas of body tissue using the same instrument, thus decreasing both trauma to a patient and complexity of a surgical operation. Modern laser probes further expand available surgical options by including a directional tip on a probe that enables a surgeon to access areas of a patient's body that may not ordinarily be accessible with a rigid linear probe.
As with most mechanical devices, however, the risk of mechanical breakdown or failure increases as the intricacy and precision of a device increases, and mechanically complex fiber diverter probes are not immune from this general rule of thumb. Even more troublesome, the intricate parts of a complex fiber diverter probe can be difficult to reach, thus making cleaning and repairing such parts also difficult.
The assignee of this application, Laserscope, presently provides a state of the art laser probe having directional, or fiber diverter, capabilities at the distal tip of the probe, in addition to simultaneous irrigating and aspirating capabilities. This complex, state of the art instrument enables surgeons not only to perform complete surgical operations on specific areas of body tissue using one instrument, but further enables surgeons to access difficult areas not readily accessible by linear, non-fiber diverter probes. Due to the complexity of such a fiber diverter probe, the device is relatively expensive to manufacture and is constructed of precisionly designed components.
Since modern fiber diverter probes are very expensive to manufacture, purchasers generally prefer that these medical instruments have an extended lifetime expectancy. Accordingly, modern fiber diverter probes are constructed of durable, heavy metal components with the intent of providing a complex medical instrument having an extended functional lifetime expectancy. For sanitary reasons, conventional probes must be able to withstand the high temperatures necessary for heat sterilization which is required between each use of the probe in order to avoid exposing patients to a contaminated medical instrument.
In actual use, however, the intricate components of these complex fiber diverter probes have been found to be very difficult to sterilize after each use. The tiny working components of the instrument can be somewhat inaccessible in sterilization procedures. Furthermore, sterilization, which usually is accomplished by exposing the instrument to high temperatures, tends to weaken, stiffen, or otherwise damage the more delicate or precision components of the fiber diverter probe.
Additional problems, that were not previously anticipated, have become apparent from the use of conventional, long-term use fiber diverter probes. For instance, the metal components of the probe create a substantial weight that can be very tiring for a surgeon who may be required to manually hold the instrument in a desired position for an extended period of time during long operations. Furthermore, conventional controls for diverting the fiber tip, such as a rotating knob, have been reported by surgeons to be difficult to use during operating procedures. Even the positioning of valves on the instrument, which regulate the flow of air or liquid during cleansing procedures, are uncomfortable for surgeons to operate.
Accordingly, it would be desireable to provide a fiber diverter probe at a relatively inexpensive price, thereby eliminating the necessity for sterilizing the instrument and making a disposable fiber diverter probe practical. In the same manner, it would also be desirable to provide a fiber diverter probe of reduced weight and user friendly controls in order to facilitate the use of fiber diverter probes by surgeons. In reducing the overall cost and weight of the instrument, it would therefore be desireable to decrease the number of separate components in the instrument. Decreasing the number of components in design of the fiber diverter probe would also provide the added advantage of reducing the risk of mechanical failures.